My name is Heléna Adelmann. I’m a an artist and I’m a photographer – all in one. A photography friend once told me that the definition about being a professional photographer is when you sell your work. I do – so from that moment I guess I can call myself a professional photographer as well. But I am also an artist, because photography is not a ”job” for me .. it is so much more than this. I consider photography to be an incredible creative process. I am much more interested in revealing my feelings for what I see in the world around me, than simply documenting what I see. It’s all about the feelings.

For me, photography has came into my life very late but like a storm wind. But with such an impact, that most things in my life nowadays has to do with photography. I carry my camera most of the time, and when I can’t – I get frustrated because of ”lost” photo opportunities. This is not a ”job” – it is a dedication, it is a way of expressing myself, an extension of all what I have inside. It’s my heart, it’s my soul. And it is this dedication and incredible passion that is the key to my photography – the key to the magic. I ”think” in pixels … The world is performing in front of my eyes – and I react, with my camera. I answer to what I see, with my lenses and with my love to that what I see around me. And it is in every way true, that I love the world so much more since I see it through my lenses. I see little details, that I never paid attention to before. It is – as if I discover the world again. A if a world in black and white suddenly turns into a world with all the colors of the rainbow. I appreciate the little things. And though I am a stressed person in my normal life, when I have my camera in my hand, the time looses it’s relevance … and I can relax in a way that I am never able to do otherwise.Read more

But to be a photographer – or at least to be a photographer with the heart and the soul and if photography is the passion – this can mean that it sometimes can get a little difficult, because you see the world around you like through a lens – even in the occasions that you don’t carry the camera and THIS is something that can be very difficult, simply because the entire life and the entire world seem to consist of pixels and lost photo opportunities. For instance … during my tour with the bike, when the light is falling in JUST that special and magical way and there is no way that I can carry my 10 kg camera bag … or .. when I drive to Stockholm and I want to stop at least 25 times … which of course not is possible all the time. So being a photographer with the heart and soul is something that is both wonderful and sometimes also frustrating. But out of this reason I do carry my camera bag almost all the time. The camera bag which I have to change every year because my ”babies” (now 6 ) are getting more and more, heavier and heavier. And after a week of photography, my right shoulder is 10 cm closer to the ground than my left one.

My lenses are my children (beside my two sons, 16 & 18 years old). And I try to carry with me as many as I can carry because they all fill different purposes. One of my ”babies” allow me to express the tiniest little details. In the summer I can lay down in the grass with my macro lens and literally discover things, insects, parts of flowers that are so small that they are barely seen with the naked eye. I have a photographer friend who told me he could spend a lifetime photographing one single square meter… and I know this is true now. My neighbors and family have stopped asking me if I am sick when they see me laying down flat belly on the ground – they know by now, it’s that crazy photographer. My family have stopped feeling embarrassed for me …

Another passion I use with my largest lens; a 150 – 400 mm zoom which I connect mostly to bird photography … which brings me closer to the nature than I ever was before. It makes me so aware of the changes of seasons .. it makes me appreciate and love something in every season .. a day with mist can be just as (or maybe more) enchanting than a day with pure sunshine. My newest lens is a super wide angle lens from Carl Zeiss. This lens I use both for panorama photography in the nature .. as for city photography and architecture … it is a manual lens, which is really giving me a great challenge City photography is something I love very much as well. I love to photograph people and I love the way you can also see a little bit of humor in photography. This many times applies to photography of people that can be both touching, sad and very funny. Especially when your subjects are not aware that they are being photographed. My best photographs of people are often taken in the moments just before they discover my camera. So photographing in the city require the opposite skills compared to landscapes where you can take your time, plan your shots. Because they are momentary situations … one second the situation is there, and in that same moment you have to be prepared to shoot. And mostly I am .. I profit a lot from my fast reaction.

My photography is mostly not planned. It is part of the magic not knowing what will turn out. I don’t stand half an hour in one spot experimenting with settings. Photography is like I said something that came into my life very late and I might not have the technical skills of professional photographers that worked with photography a great part of their lives. But I believe I compensate this lack with a great deal of feeling for photography. I have heard many photographers calling my work sensitive, beautiful and with a lot of feelings – I have been called a ”soul” photographer. And I think, this compensates me for having photographed a lifetime. The final result of my work is a combination between the photography itself – and the way I edit my photos later in software programs like Lightroom and Photoshop. I have a special style, and photographers tell me they recognize my work among hundreds of others photographers work.

Photography came into my life as a coincidence I used to be a holiday snapshot photographer just like so many other people. But then something happened in my life, a personal loss of somebody that meant very much in my life. And I started taking pictures and I discovered that taking pictures was an excellent way of therapy, I realized that with my camera in my hand I got a vent to my feelings. I changed my compact camera to a DSLR camera … then bought a better one of those …. then a full frame camera etc., and for each camera change and each addition of another lens, my way of expressing myself went more and more refined .. and even though it started as a way of processing my greed, it continues to help me see the world in another way, in a more clear way and I think it makes me a better person too, because I have gained so much respect to all that I see around me. And it was not Brassai or Cartier Bresson that were my big inspirations. I found my main inspiration on Facebook where I got in contact with photographers with such a passion and vision for photography that it overwhelmed me. I have met persons in there which will be my friends for life, and who have helped me enormously to find my own ways eventually, and for this, I am tremendously grateful. You know who you are and I thank you for all. It got me open my eyes … and now, I find a value in things I never saw before. I can also photograph the same things over and over again, and I have learned, that even if the subjects might seem the same, there are endless ways of variations. The light is never the same, my mood is never the same .. every day is a new day .. and when you photograph with your heart and your soul and with a great deal of inspiration – you can photograph the same spot a life time, and you will never have the same picture twice. I don’t need an assignment .. I don’t need anybody helping me out of the coach .. every day is a new day with endless possibilities to capture the beauty and magic around. I can go out with my camera without a plan … and I know for sure that the world will find ME .. will come to ME. That is my secret.

My passion and connection to a network of photographers world wide started through Facebook and a lot of competitions where my work has won many competitions, appreciation etc., to this autumn, when I display my work for the first time in a big exhibition still going on in the nicest gallery of my town. To connections to other galleries, other photography projects and also different types of events, my photography journey has started to raise to levels I didn’t dare to hope for … but that now, feels both thrilling and sensational at the same time …

I am so happy you found the way to my homepage which is the new step in my personal travel. Please be welcome to share the magical world we live in – with me and my photography. Life is a journey … and looking at my photography, will take you on my personal journey. I am so glad you are here. Welcome to my world – please enjoy!